Loneliness
by FruityWizard
Summary: Nearly a year has passed since the ending of the movie Hannibal, and Clarice is feeling lonely without Dr. Lecter around.


_**Disclaimer:**_ _This story is purely fan-made, but features characters from a copyrighted series. I do not claim ownership of the characters or the series, as they are the intellectual works of Thomas Harris and other respective owners. Please visit __for more details._

**Chapter 1.**

Clarice awoke to find herself in her living room, she had fallen asleep in the chair again. It had been a lonely night, she was not working, and Ardelia wasn't home to keep her company. Only the occasional sound of a creaking window seemed to pierce the vacant house. The same had been last night, a creaking window, and the occasional scratching of mice in the wall. At dinner last night she kept beating the wall, but as soon as she walked away, the scratching would continue. Every night was the same, and every night she was alone. Occasionally agents would call, asking her on a date, she always refused. Not one of them ever would know her, not one of them could ever get inside her head and make a permanent residence there. Not one of them, but on the other hand, only one.

On the long nights, Clarice longed for a familiar voice to listen to, and the only thing that she had were the audio tapes that Barney had given her a year before, the secret recordings that Chilton had made in order to find at least something to start him off on a profile of Dr. Lecter. Chilton was desperate for the publicity of profiling Dr. Lecter, but was horribly disappointed when he could find nothing, even in the tapes. Even if he did pick up on something, he would've been dead before he could actually start the profile.

Clarice dug out her tape player from her box of shit in the closet and inserted one of the tapes. Ardelia didn't know what were on the tapes, Clarice had made sure of that by peeling the labels off. She wouldn't tell Ardelia what was on them, but she never asked. In fact, Clarice wasn't entirely sure that Ardelia even knew that she had them, she never listened to them when Ardelia was home. Even if she did know, she would try to convince Clarice to throw them away, then she say how sick Dr. Lecter was. Ardelia occasionally asked her what Dr. Lecter was like, Clarice had never explained it fully. There were some feelings that she had experienced when talking to Dr. Lecter that she would rather keep private. The truth was, as frightening as his twisted, knowledge crammed mind was, she missed hearing his voice. But she most of all missed the conversations that they had, and even the company that he provided.

Clarice sat down in the chair and put a headphone in each ear. She hit play on the tape player; Dr Lecter's fuzzy voice erupted in her ears. _"—ple will say we're in love"_. She felt the corners of her lips retract into a smile. His metallic, hypnotic voice had both haunted and soothed her, she found it ironic. _"Tk-tk-tk – Anthrax Island, that was an especially nice touch Clarice, yours?"_

She closed her eyes trying to remember that night, the smells, the sounds, everything. And her, a lonely 24 yr old woman reaching for the unreachable; talking to a man in a cage, or what was controversially a man at all. His sleek appearance was the thing that separated him from most other inmates, he had neatly kept himself. Even in a prison uniform, he had always managed to look presentable, his hair was always nicely kept, he was always nicely shaved, and his uniform was a tight fit and didn't have a wrinkle on it. Even his skin was void of blotchy-ness and other marks. But the thing that startled and awed her the most was the way his eyes peirced through the dark when light shown upon them, they appeared almost blood red. His small white teeth would sometimes find their way out from behind his acidic lips, especially when he spoke of Jack Crawford. His small form never wavered in its rigid posture.

... _"And what did you see Clarice.?...What did you see?"_ His voice vibrated in her ears. The of his sound of his voice found its way into her mind, and she felt herself slowly retiring for the night.

Clarice rose from the chair, the morning sun beating in the window on her face as the birds chirped outside. She rubbed her eyes and stretched before walking over to the TV and turning it on. She then walked lazily to the kitchen to make coffee.

The male reporter's voice erupted into the empty house. "Now for our top story, former FBI Agent William Graham died last night due to ongoing medical complications. Agent Graham is most noted for capturing lethal madman Hannibal _The Cannibal _Lecter in 1980"– Clarice peeked around the door frame to see a picture of Dr. Lecter embellish the TV screen. Upon seeing it, she got a strange numbing sensation. Underneath the picture had his name: Hannibal Lecter. She smiled to herself, imagining him seeing this report somewhere, agitated that they hadn't called him 'Doctor'. "– Lecter escaped from custody in 1991, after aiding Special Agent Clarice Starling in the capture of the serial killer _Buffalo Bill_. Lecter is still at large."

Clarice returned to making her coffee when she heard the door open. She peeked around the corner to see Ardelia come into the house carrying a box of stuff.

"Hey Girl." She said to Clarice upon seeing her through the doorframe.

"Hey, what's up?" Clarice asked, her voice still groggy from sleep. "What's in the box?"

"Stuff from my Gram." She said putting it on the floor and entering the kitchen. The coffee maker was just starting to drip. Ardelia found her way to the table and sat down exhausted. "Long night" she mumbled as Clarice joined her, she noticed Clarice's quiet.

"What's up with you?" She asked Clarice after a moment of silence.

"Nothing" Clarice said.

"Girl, I know when something's wrong." Ardelia said.

There was a pause before Clarice spoke. "Graham's dead, died last night."

"Really?" Ardelia asked. She mumbled in response and rubbed her eyes.

There was a long pause as the coffee maker gurgled, Ardelia broke the silence. "What else is bothering you? You didn't even know Graham, why are you sad about that?"

"It's nothing." Clarice said reassuringly. "Bad day yesterday, that's all."

"Didn't we all have one?" She asked with a smile and Clarice nodded in agreement.

The coffee maker stopped gurgling and both of them made their coffee to sit down in the living room. Clarice had forgotten about her tape player and the tape in it, so she quickly chose the chair she had fallen asleep in. Ardelia didn't notice and took the couch.

"In other news," The anchorman's voice blared, "A train crash in Philadelphia leaves 36 people dead, and 14 seriously injured. Police say that a truck tried to cross the tracks when it stalled, the man in the truck escaped the accident, but the train hit the vehicle and derailed."

Clarice rolled her eyes upon seeing this just as Ardelia shook her head, muttering "Idiot."

Clarice sipped her coffee, and got up to go to the bathroom to relieve herself.

She closed the door and sat down on the toilet. The thought of Dr. Lecter stung her, and she didn't know why. Listening to his voice last night just put her in a mood, and she didn't think she was prepared to tell Ardelia. She did miss his company, even if Ardealia understood that or not.

The roar of the flushing toilet filled her ears as she opened the door and turned off the light. She was then suddenly overcome by what she saw. Ardelia had her tape player on, listening to Dr Lecter and Clarice on the headphones. Ardelia glance at her, and hit the stop button taking out the headphones. She paused as she placed the tape player on the spot next to her. "Sorry, I was curious to what was in it." She said submissively. What had Ardelia heard?

Clarice shrugged, there was no point in hiding the tapes anymore.

"Forget about it." Clarice said, her heart in her throat.

There was a long pause as Clarice sat back down in the chair. After a few moments, Ardelia broke the awkward silence.

"You miss him...don't you?"

"Who?" Clarice asked.

"Who?" Ardelia mocked with a chuckle. "Dr. Lecter, silly. Who else?"

Clarice inhaled nervously and pushed her eyes toward the ceiling as if it presented something interesting. "He found his way in my head Ardelia." Clarice said solemnly before pausing again, "I think about him often. So, miss him? I wouldn't go as far to say that, I would say I..." She trailed, she didn't know what to tell Ardelia.. "Feel misguided without him..."

Ardelia stared at her, before rolling her head back and letting out an explosive laugh. "Girl... you miss him."

Clarice said nothing, she didn't know what to say. But she felt better that Ardelia didn't seem too disgusted by this. It felt awkward talking to Ardelia about Dr Lecter in such a casual manner, but then Ardelia spoke again.

"Girl, I've had my share of criminal acquaintances too ." Clarice was confused until she remembered that Ardelia had dated a drug lord for a while, and stayed with him a little while after she discovered his real identity. Clarice knew that Ardelia cared for him, even now, when he was sitting in a federal prison somewhere. She couldn't remember where he had gone.

"But Girl, who ever heard of a FBI Agent Clarice chuckled seeing this... "You know what? You're probably right."

The two women's laughter filled the house, just as the morning sun peaked over the tree outside.


End file.
